OTR Interviews

Mike Huckabee on Palin, Gustav and the GOP Convention

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record ," September 1, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Senator McCain has certainly stunned the political world and picked a socially conservative governor Sarah Palin as her running mate. She will be right here in St Paul speaking to an excited crowd this week.

And speaking of conservative governors, joining us live is governor Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas. Nice to see you, governor.

MIKE HUCKABEE, FORMER ARKANSAS GOVERNOR: It's great to be back with you, Greta.

VAN SUSTEREN: You have some sort of FOX News relationship as well now?

HUCKABEE: I do. And I'm excited about it. I'll be a part of a team. And that's going to be a lot of fun.

She was coming to office just as I was finishing my 2.5 years, so we didn't intersect during that period of time. But I know a lot about her. I am so excited about her being on the ticket. I think she brings energy, and there is no doubt about it.

We were in St Louis yesterday in a rally, and Senator McCain and governor Palin, Mitt Romney and myself, and we walked out on that stage, and it's Sarah, Sarah--23,000 people there were going wild for her.

There is an energy in the Republican Party that we really need to see, and she helped bring it.

VAN SUSTEREN: She has energy, but the big vulnerability is that she has been governor less than two years. She's been a mayor, but that has been the Republican criticism of Senator Obama, that he doesn't have any experience. What's the answer?

HUCKABEE: The answer is that experience is what you have done, not what you know. And I would say that she has had far more experience making decisions in two years as a governor than somebody who has been in the United States Senate for 10 or 15 years.

There is a difference between the deliberation of a senator and the decision-making of an executive. The presidency is about decision-making, not deliberation.

The legislature is about deliberating--thinking, being a part of a club, taking months and months to work through an issue. When you're the chief executive, you make decisions right now, not tomorrow, not next month. You don't get a committee together. You make decisions. She has been making decisions as a governor.

And one other key thing--governors have to look at the whole field of play. They actually run a microcosm of the federal government. Every agency that you have at the federal level, you have at the state level.

When she walks into a federal situation, it is not unfamiliar to her. She will understand all of those issues from having dealt with them as a governor.

VAN SUSTEREN: So she can keep the trains running on time, for lack of a better description. That's my shorthand description.

She is going to be in a debate with Senator Biden, and foreign policy is going to come up. And you certainly have to admit, he has an unbelievable long experience in foreign policy area. How is she going to do it, and how do you get her ready for that one?

HUCKABEE: First of all, I think what people look for is not much are they an encyclopedia of detailed knowledge, but what kind of judgment do they have.

VAN SUSTEREN: But how do you tell that? Because that's a criticism of senator Obama, and everyone says how do you tell that, if someone hasn't been around the block for a long timing?

HUCKABEE: Let's think of it this way, if what we really wanted in a president is someone who knew everything, we would just go get a professor at Harvard and make him president.

Why is it that we don't do that? Because we elect a president for judgment, for the capacity to make decisions based on really a lifetime of experience, not just simply saying I can name all of the countries on the globe.

VAN SUSTEREN: But there is the problem, though, because that's exactly what the Democrats are saying about Senator Obama, because the whole criticism of him, they say the judgment, he was against the war in the beginning, or whatever it is.

HUCKABEE: Yes.

VAN SUSTEREN: And the Republicans have been saying he can't judge, his judgment. But you have the same problem now with your candidate for vice president.

HUCKABEE: I don't think so for this reason--she has a history of having made decisions. I pointed out to somebody today--she has gotten more votes when they ran for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, than Joe Biden did when he ran for president.

She has actually had to run something--a city, a state. And it means something when you're the person, the one person, the single person who makes the decisions for which you are going to be held accountable. That's what makes a difference between a person who has executive experience and who has legislative experience.

VAN SUSTEREN: And I probably should add that I don't know that doesn't know foreign policy inside and out. I have no idea. All I know is those debates are going to be incredibly fascinating to watch.

HUCKABEE: I think she is going to more than hold her own. I think it's going to be a fascinating time to watch a very tough, seasoned lady who has, in my mind, the kind of experience that is refreshing.

It's not Washington experience. It's experience that ranges from the PTA to the governor of the state and being the head of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, all of which gives here, I think, a unique perspective, and on that is going to be very exciting to watch.

VAN SUSTEREN: I'm going to be glued to those debates, presidential and vice president. It's going to be fun to watch.

Governor Huckabee, nice to see you, and I will see you around the shop, I guess.

HUCKABEE: Looking forward to it, Greta, thanks so much.

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